“Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.“ – 1 Samuel 15:35 (KJV)

We all have tasted the bitterness of death. Through a loved one, even those we never really knew that well.

With death is bitterness. With death is loss of hope.

Many times people have told me they believe that death brings life meaning. If we are honest with ourselves, if the only point of our lives is to die, there is not much of a meaning or a reason to live to begin with.

Rather, death is suffering, a result of being separated from God (Romans 5:12). Christ triumphed over death (Isaiah 25:8; 1 Corinthians 15:25-26; 2 Timothy 1:10; Hebrews 2:14; Romans 1:4).

This is what we are experiencing. The brokenness within ourselves and the world around us. The bitterness that remains years after death tears people apart.

In all this, through Christ’s resurrection – who is the cornerstone of our faith – we have hope (1 Corinthians 15:23). The hope we have through Jesus will not fade or change, regardless of our circumstances and our sufferings here and now (1 Peter 1:3-12).

My prayer is that you who read this will remember how Christ suffered and died – and that He understands deeply our pain. The loneliness, abandonment, persecution – despite having done no wrong, grief, despair. My hope and prayer is that you will seek Him out yourself, to know that the Lord is good. He will be found (Jeremiah 32:27; Jeremiah 33:3; Psalm 50:15; Isaiah 55:6-7; Jeremiah 29:12; Joel 2:32; Luke 11:9-10).

The Lord is indeed good. The world and ourselves are broken as a result of sin, which separates us from God. Apart from God, there is no life. Death is the absence of life, just as darkness is the absence of light. Christ is our life and light, our hope (John 8:12; 1 John 1:5-9; Ephesians 5:14; James 1:17).

May you find the hope that you have been seeking, and may you enjoy life abundantly.  Until then, know that we all earnestly yearn for ourselves to be filled with life.

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:” – 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 (KJV)